


Don't leave

by skywanh3da



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, F/F, F/M, Hope is Adora, Josie is Catra, she-ra au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:47:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28592742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skywanh3da/pseuds/skywanh3da
Summary: "I never meant to hurt you, Jo." A desperate look spread across her face."Yeah? Well, zero points." Josie sneered back.A Hosie/She-Ra AU
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman, Milton "MG" Greasley/Lizzie Saltzman
Comments: 6
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is inspired by a tumblr post I saw recently. https://lovelyhxsie.tumblr.com/post/618218068166983680/hosies-fucking-watch-she-ra-if-you-truly-want
> 
> It's a little rough for this first chapter as I get everything set up and it'll be really familiar if you've watched She-Ra but I should be drifting away from that canon the more we go on.

Hope ducked stealthily through the trees. The rest of her squad was spread out behind her, hidden behind trunks, moving up with her as she crouched underneath branches and leaves. The coast was clear and there was no sign of danger yet but that could all change in a heartbeat. Witches were unpredictable and, therefore, dangerous. 

Although, this would be a lot easier if Josie had shown up on time like she was supposed to. Not that she’s terribly surprised that the brunette had left her high and dry again. It was just like her to not show up just to mess with Hope. 

So far, so good. This might be an easy mission for once. Just as long as nothing went- 

A blast shot out from above and the scrawny boy Kyle in the back took it to the chest and a big red X lit up on his diaphragm. More bright shots rang out around them all before they could even react and hit lazily around the remaining three members of the squad and they all ran for it, abandoning Kyle and moving deeper through the woods. Beams of light trailed behind them and made them work harder to get to their objective. 

A round orb appeared in their path ahead of them and in the back, her squad Rogelio picked up a long, even stick from the floor and flung it forward, hitting dead center in the mark, and it crashed down onto the floor, sparks and fire shooting out of it. The three of them leaped over the expired object and burst through a clearing in the woods. A bright light shrouded their periphery but in front of it a flag hung on a pole in front, dangling freely and enticingly. 

They took only a couple of steps forward before a larger version of the object before dropped down from above and clambered towards them, moving on four lumbering and steep legs. Hope steeled herself for a moment and pulled a cylindrical rod from her waist and pressed on a lever on the side of it, bracing herself as it extended outwards and became a staff about three feet long. She rushed forwards toward it and struck at one of the silver legs. It didn’t do much to it and the monstrosity turned slightly and smacked Hope to the side with its other leg. She rolled a couple of times over the ground, some of it actually disappearing as moved. She steadied herself, remembered Rogelio’s move from before, and flung the staff forward, hitting just like he had before, only this time with more sparks and fire, and spots on the ground opened up and it dropped down into nothingness. 

Hope had a similar problem as a hole appeared beneath her and she started to drop down into the abyss. The spear reappeared in her hand before she could drop down too far and it hit on both sides of the opening, keeping her lodged in place, dangling into the drop. 

Above her, a pretty brunette with a brilliant smile appeared at the edge of the opening, holding the flag in one hand and shit-eating grin on her lips. “Hey there, Hope. Need some help?”

Hope let out a sigh. “Hey Jo.”

“Quite a predicament you’ve gotten yourself in, huh.” Hope wouldn't have even needed to look at Josie to know that her grin was spreading even wider, as if that was possible. 

“Are you going to help me up or not?” Hope rolled her eyes at her best friend. 

“Now, Hope, what kind of friend do you take me for? Like I would sabotage all of your hard work.” A delightful giggle slid out of Josie’s lips and a hand reached down to pull Hope up and out of the hole. 

Hope glanced at Josie derisively once she was back on her feet. “I see you were able to find the flag.” 

That damn grin was back on her face. “Well yeah, it was pretty easy when you were distracting that big robot.” Around them, the environment around them had changed from the lush and dangerous forest to the standard white room that the training simulation normally looked like when it wasn’t in use. 

  
***************************************************

  
Lizzie walked into the throne room with her head held high, her long blonde hair flowing down her back as two guards trailed behind her, stopping just in front of the throne. On it sat her father, King Alaric, looking incredibly unimpressed. “Lizzie, weren't you told to only perform simple reconnaissance?” He said in a voice that was nothing less than exasperated. His eyes looked tired and a hand rubbed along his forehead. 

“What was I supposed to do?” Lizzie let out a dramatic huff and crossed her arms over her chest, nearly stomping her foot on the ground in a pout. “The Horde was attacking that village. Something had to be done and we saved lives!” 

“That’s not the point, Elizabeth, and you know it. You had very strict instructions and you disobeyed them. What do you expect to do with that?” 

“Don’t call me Elizabeth,” she mumbled under her breath, the pout deepening on her lips. 

“What was that?” Her father demanded.

“I said,” her voice rising and her chin jutting out in a defiant manner. “I wouldn't need to if we would act and do something. We’re just letting them run amok attacking us and we haven’t done a thing to stop it. 

“That’s enough!” Alaric stood up from his throne and yelled out. “Go to your room. You're grounded.” 

Lizzie gasped dramatically. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“I mean it. Right now.”

This time Lizzie did stomp her foot and walked away from the throne room in a huff, going up to her room and slamming her door with a slam. She sucked in a deep breath, pressed her hand to the door and siphoned some energy from it, and walk to the center of the room. She let out an ear-piercing scream and everything around her got blown out in a wide circle. She felt murderous right now. She couldn't just sit here and do nothing. Something had to be done and if she was going to be the only one to do it, then so be it. 

KNOCK, KNOCK

Lizzie jumped at the sound and walked over to the window that it’d come from. On the other side of the glass stood a young man with dark skin and a pad in his hand. “Lizzie! You’re not gonna believe what I found!” 

Lizzie hushed him quickly and pulled him inside the room. “MG, shut up!” She quietly hushed. “You’re gonna get me busted. I’m supposed to be grounded now after my very heroic stunt that my dad just doesn’t understand at all.”

MG shakes his head and waves his tablet in front of her. “Who cares about that right now. I found some First Ones tech.”

“You did? Give me that!” Lizzie demanded and yanked the tablet out of his hands and studied the screen. It showed a blip deep in the Whispering Woods. It definitely could be from the First Ones. So much of those woods were unexplored due to how dangerous it could be, that’s not even counting the Horde.

That was all she needed to know what to do now. “Let’s go. We’re gonna nab that tech, bring it back here, and then my dad will actually let me do stuff from now on. Plus I won’t be grounded.” She took his hand and they jumped out of the window, running off towards the direction of the blip on the screen. 

*********************************

Hope went to bed that night in fairly good spirits. Although the simulation hadn’t gone exactly how she wanted it to, Clarke had been able to see her good work throughout it, Josie notwithstanding, and had informed her afterwards that she would be promoted to Force Captain. That meant that she’d able to go out on active duty now, actually see some action and contribute to the war effort against the witches. 

That didn’t mean that Josie would be able to go with her, though, which had been a difficult pill for her to swallow. They’d always been together since the moment they met and this would be the first time that they spent any time apart. Josie was, predictably, less than enthralled. “I’m a great warrior,” she raged as she paced angrily in front of Hope. “How can he say that I’m not ready? Kyle? Sure. He’d get harmed by a splinter. But me? No offense, Hope, but what can you do that I can’t?”

Hope thought about saying ‘follow orders’ but decided better of it. That wouldn't be very helpful right now. “I know, Jo. I know. Just, you know, give it some time. I’m sure he’ll see how great you are just like I do.” And she did. Even though Hope didn’t know a lot of people, she was certain that there was no one in the world quite like Josie. 

“Yeah, whatever. They’ll probably send me up with you when they realize how completely lost you are without me.” Josie smirks at her. 

Hope lets out a laugh and wraps an arm around Josie’s neck. “Oh please. We both know you’re the one who can’t survive without me.”

“At least I can see my enemies. I wouldn’t think the Horde would let anyone that short be a Force Captain.”

Hope shoved her. “You’re so rude. And here I was gonna let us joyride on a skiff together.” 

Josie threw some puppy dog eyes towards her. “Oh please Hope. It’d be so much fun. Pleasepleasepleaseplease.”   
“Okay, okay. Fine!” Hope threw her hands up with a laugh. 

It was a lot easier to get their hands on one than she would’ve thought and they were soon jetting across out of the Fright Zone to the Whispering Woods. This was the farthest either of them had ever been from the place they’d been raised and it was a wonder to behold. Certainly a lot better view than the dreary and lifeless surroundings they were used to. 

“Let’s do some exploring,” Josie said giddily and pushed down on the steering lever, urging them inside the Whispering Woods.   
  
“What’re you doing?” Hope hissed out at her. “Everyone we’ve ever sent in here has never come back.” 

Josie grinned at her. “All the more reason for us to be the first to do it. Don’t tell me the new Force Captain is scared.” 

Hope scoffed. “Scared? I’m not scared of anything.” 

Josie smirks devilishly at her and they go deeper inside the forest. Hope reaches for the lever and tries to pull them out. “That’s enough, Jo. I’m taking us back now.”

The two fought and struggled over control and Hope slipped off the lever and Josie yanked on it too hard, making it tilt to one side, and Hope got thrown into the air. She crashed onto branches as she fell down, each one breaking her fall until she slammed down onto the ground with a groan. She stood up slowly and tried to gather her bearings. Nothing felt broken or even sprained so that was lucky. She’s had worse falls in her life. 

“Josie?” Hope called out but couldn’t see her friend anywhere. She walked in a wide circle calling her name out but couldn't see her or the skiff anywhere. “That’s just typical.” 

She stopped when something caught her eye. A bright light. It reminded her of the simulation, only this was actually happening. It shined brighter the closer she got and then it suddenly died off as she got right up on it. And then she saw it. A sword sticking out of the ground, the hilt of it still shining but barely. She felt herself being guided to it. She needed to touch it. It wanted her to touch it. She couldn't not touch it. She placed a single finger on the handle and she felt herself being transported somewhere. A loud voice clanged in her ears but she couldn't make out most of it. The only thing that stood out was: “BALANCE MUST BE RESTORED.” 

When she next blinked, she was in the same spot but the sword was gone and Josie was there, her hands pressed to Hope’s face. “Oh my god, Hope. Are you okay?” She sounded genuinely concerned and it almost made her heart melt a little.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Where’s the....” Hope spun around, darting her eyes in all directions. “Where’s the sword? It was just.....where’d it go?”

Josie looked at her like she lost her mind. “What’re you talking about? There’s no sword here. It’s all just the same creepy woods that it’s always been. No sword.” 

The brunette dragged her away a moment after that and they’d made it back to the barracks with little more incident. Now she was back in bed feeling bad but still strange. What was that sword? 

She drifted to sleep and the same words from before echoed in her mind. She needed to find that sword and get some answers. She slipped out of the bed and tried not to bother Josie. She had her own bed overtop Hope’s, but they more often than not shared a bed together. Josie had trouble sleeping on her own. 

Hope slipped her shoes back on and headed for the door. She was almost out when she felt a hand grab hers and hold her still. “Hope? What’re you doing?”

She looked back and saw Josie standing behind her, groggily rubbing her eyes in an admittedly cute fashion. “It’s okay Jo. I’ll be back soon. Just buy me some time with Clarke if I’m not back before morning.” 

Josie looked like she wanted to argue but nodded her head. 

Hope slipped out and grabbed the same skiff from before and made for the Whispering Woods again. She wasn’t sure where she was going but she had to believe that it existed. It needed to exist. It couldn’t just be something she made up in her head. 

Hope parked the skiff at the edge of the woods and made the rest of the way on foot. She wasn’t sure where it would be now but she hoped that she would see the same glowing from before. She walked for about half an hour, almost giving up when she saw the glow from a distance. She took off to a run and stopped when she reached a large opening and spotted the sword on a large boulder on a far end. She walked towards it, almost reverently, until she was close enough to touch it and reached her hand out. Her finger nearly brushed the handle when she heard an affronted yell behind. “Horde! Stop there!” She pulled her hand back and sighed. 

Great. Just great. 


	2. Chapter 2

Hope was, to say the least, not terribly pleased with how this was going. She should’ve just stayed in bed with Josie. Not going out into this haunted forest looking for some weird, magical sword and getting attacked by godforsaken witches.

If there was a plan to her life, this certainly was not it. 

Not that she was super thrilled with the plan before this. 

Her hand had almost been on the sword when she had heard the yelling behind her and jerked her hand back. She could deal with whatever this sword was later. She needed to secure the area and she couldn’t do that with an unknown variable as a weapon. Maybe it wasn’t even sharp. That wouldn’t do her any good in a battle situation. She still had her rod at her side and so she slid it to its full length as a staff and braced herself for the coming battle. 

Charging at her was a party of two. The first was definitely a witch. She had long blonde hair pulled back tight against her head, flowing down her back. She was pretty in perhaps the most traditional sense of the word and had a fierce scowl on her face as she rushed towards Hope. Just behind her, seeming slightly enthused by this, was a dark-skinned boy, a pad of some kind in his hand that he was hastily trying to put away in favor of a quiver, and was most decidedly not a witch. 

“Horde! Don’t you move!” The girl growled out at Hope, her hands reached out menacingly. Hope had a slight chance here. She knew that there were two types of witches in existence. The first were regular witches. They could just do anything magical at will and make that work for them. The second kind were siphoners. They needed something to draw energy from to cast a spell. If she was the first type, Hope would be in trouble. Although, if it was the second, that the blonde was a siphoner, this just might work out for her. Those kinds of witches work on touch and this girl was too far from his compatriot to touch anything. She hadn’t seemed to realize that yet. If Hope could take out the witch before she could draw any magic to her, then she’d be alright. Taking out the boy after that would be easy. 

The look of panic on the blonde’s face a moment later clenched it for her. Dumb witch.

Hope swung the staff above her head and leaped forward towards the witch, aiming for her knees to bring her down to the ground, cripple her if necessary. An arrow shot out before her hit could land on the blonde, knocking Hope back as it met her staff. The moment’s pause gave the witch a chance to recover and knelt down onto the ground, energy pulsating through her hand as she pressed it down onto the grass. Hope might think it was beautiful if she didn’t realize the implications of it. Wordlessly, a hand reached up at Hope and an invisible wall knocked her back onto her ass a solid five feet.   
  
“You know, this really isn’t necessary-” Hope let out as she rolled onto her feet before a binding force held her where she stood, no doubt a spell from the witch. 

“Oh, I think it really is, Horde spy,” the blonde sneered at her and tightened her fist. The pressure on Hope’s body increased and it brought her further down to the ground. She needed to get free somehow. She craned her head back and saw the sword behind her. If she could just get to it, maybe she’d have a chance. She’s not sure what good it would do but she was a bit out of options now. She struggled against the invisible force. The sword was just a foot away from her. She could get it. Her muscles strained and her limbs try to splay towards it. She was almost there. Almost. Her fingers were almost there. With one final push, her middle finger reached out and touched the jewel in the center and suddenly a bright light enveloped her and just like that she was free. 

An empty space surrounded her now and she was totally free from the spell. It was like before when she’d touched the sword but things were clearer to her now. Almost like a radio signal that had been cleared up. 

“Etheria has need of you,” an ethereal voice whispered to her over and over again. “Fight for the honor of Grayskull, Hope.” 

A furrow appeared in her forehead. “The what? What is Grayskull? Did I hit my head or something?”

She didn’t get to answer more questions because just as quickly as she’d appeared in this strange space, she was gone and back onto the ground of the forest, with two pairs of eyes looking up at her. 

“Oh hey, she’s up.” The boy said over her. He had kind eyes and his concern was palpable.

“Wait, what’s going-” Hope felt disoriented. Her hands were tied together in binds now and the sword was in the hands of the blonde next to her now. 

“Hush! We’re the ones asking the questions now!” The girl screeched at her and sent a deadly glare in her direction. “What did you think you were doing here, Horde?” 

“I-the sword-” Hope started again but was immediately hushed again by the witch.

“Oh, this sword that belongs to us now and you’re never getting you’re filthy paws on? Yeah, think again.” The blonde rolls her eyes and stands Hope up by the binds and urges her forward. “Now get moving. This is a good day for me. I’ve got First Ones tech and a Horde spy. My dad’s going to be so impressed.”

Hope’s not entirely sure what a ‘dad’ is but she prefers not to feel dumb in front of the enemy.

A snarl echoed around the trees surrounding them and all three of them froze in their steps. The blonde whipped around to Hope and stuck a finger in her chest. “What the hell is that!” 

Hope let out an affronted scoff and tried to cross her arms over her chest before remembering that they wouldn’t bend that way with the binds on her wrists. “Me? You think I have a monster with me? This is your creepy forest.”

The witch rolled her eyes so heavily that Hope thought they might actually get stuck at the back of her skull. “You’re a horde. Of course I think you have monsters. That’s what you do.”

The boy made a step forward to interject but before he could, a flap of wings could be heard around them and then a large figure crashed down a few feet away from them, brandishing a large sword. Hope almost couldn’t believe what she was seeing. It looked like a statue. A gargoyle, actually. It was huge and imposing with bright red eyes, pointed ears, and slicked back horns atop its head. 

“Holy shit!” All three of them exclaimed at the same time at the sight of the gargoyle. 

“What the hell is that?” Hope asked in mild horror as it lumbered closer to them.

“You're seriously asking us? This has Horde written all over it.” Lizzie shot back incredulously. 

“Guys, I really don’t think now is the time to argue-” The boy tried just before Hope nudged the pair in a mild tackle with her side and grabbed the sword out of the girl’s hands, twisting her hands as much as she could to grab the handle. Great, now she has a sword and he also has a sword. A big sword. And he looks really strong. Okay, this is still bad. 

Her mind thought back to the vision she had earlier. The words felt important to her. She wasn’t sure why, just something deep within herself that told her they were. Please be a magic sword. 

The gargoyle swung his sword through the air with a growl and clashed against Hope’s, sparking a small flash of light and making them both leap backwards. She smirked. Oh, he’s so done for. She thinks.

“For the honor of Greyhead!”

No wait. That’s not right. What was it again. 

“Oh, oops. Um, for the honor of Greyskull!” 

That seemed to do the trick because a blinding light enveloped Hope and she could feel herself changing before her eyes. It was only a few seconds later that she was totally transformed, although it hadn’t felt weird in the moment. It wasn’t like she a werewolf going through a change. It felt more like changing clothes. She was one thing and now she was something totally different. In fact, her clothes were completely different. Gone was her Horde uniform and now she was in what felt more like armor. It was white with lines of gold and shorts that stopped midway down her thighs. She was also several inches taller now, making her an inch or two taller than Josie now. Her hair had changed from auburn to bright golden blonde, more so than the witch, and it flowed against the wind behind her. 

Then she panicked. 

The spell was broken and she was back to being regular Hope. Short, auburn Hope. 

“What was that?!” Hope exclaimed, looking at the blonde witch accusingly.

“What are you looking at me for?” Lizzie yelled back at her, throwing a force of energy at the gargoyle to buy them a second.

“Well, gee, I didn’t know being a witch was contagious!” Hope sneered back at her, trying to lift up the lumberous sword but failing miserably.

“Guys!” The boy yelled, looking rather stressed out at the moment. “Maybe we can talk about this when there isn’t a monster trying to kill us!” 

“Okay, okay. I have an idea.” The blonde declared confidently with her chin raised up in a regal fashion. “Run!” 

“Run? Are you being fucking-” Hope started but the witch had already taken off through the clearing. The gargoyle looked at the Horde soldier with an almsot inquisitive look and Hope comically shrugged. “Okay. Guess we’re running now. Uh, see ya.” 

Hope took off as fast as she could after the other two, just trying to get away from the gargoyle now. A part of her knew that she should be getting as far away from witches as she could, but she considered this a Future Hope problem. She ran for a solid minute before she was fairly confident that the monster wasn’t following her anymore. At least she hoped so. 

The witch must have had a similar conclusion because Hope soon found herself hanging in the air, the tip of the sword dangling down to the ground and the blonde walking up to her with a pleased and smug grin on her face. 

“I’ll just take that now, thank you,” she said as she pried the sword out of Hope’s fingers. The blonde frowned down at the sword and shook it lightly. “How’d you do that magic lady routine?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just said some nonsense words and she appeared. I’m not exactly eager to do it again. I’m sure it’s all your fault anyway, witch.” 

“I did not-” The witch started before she was interrupted by the boy. He walked up in front of Hope and smiled kindly at her floating form.

“We haven’t really been introduced yet. I’m M.G. The grumpy princess over there is Lizzie. Normally, she’s really nice.....okay, nicer, but this is a weird day for us all.”

Lizzie sounded affronted on a deep, personal level by this. “Greasley, if you could not fraternize with our hostage and the enemy that would be great.” 

“Right, right. You’re gonna drop the spell on her, right” M.G. looked back at Lizzie with a questioning glance. 

The blonde groaned and placed her hand on M.G.’s shoulder and held her other hand up, dropping Hope to the ground with a soft thud. She stood up from the ground and wiped the dirt from her uniform. “Well, this is the worst day of my life.” 

“It’s gonna get a whole lot worse, Horde spy. You’re coming with us to Mystic Falls.” Lizzie called over her shoulder as she walked off along the path. 

“What? No, I’m not. That would be suicide for me. Why would I do that?” Hope scoffed and planted her feet firmly on the ground. 

“As I see it, two reasons. One, you’re our prisoner and I told you to. Two, your only other option is to take your chances against that monster out there. I know what I’d do.” The blonde snarked at her, pretending like she didn’t care if Hope came along or not. 

The smirk on Lizzie’s face when she heard footsteps behind her was almost palpable. 

***************************

“Where are we?” Hope asked as she looked around the village. It was nice. Calm. Peaceful. She was almost envious of it. But she knew enough to not trust it. She’d learned that there was a dark side to anything if you looked hard enough. 

“Don’t worry about it.” Lizzie sassed at her. “We’re just here to make a pitstop before we head off to Mystic Falls.” She took an appraising look at Hope for a long moment and threw a bright blue shawl at her. “Here, wear this.” 

“What? Why?” Hope looked down at it with poorly concealed contempt. 

Lizzie rolled her eyes and threw it over the horde soldier’s head and had a wide grin at the dismay on Hope’s face. 

“This is ugly.” Hope pouted down at the clothing. 

“I know. It’s perfect for you.” Lizzie cackled at her.

M.G. had been giving Hope an odd look ever since they arrived in the village and finally decided to speak up. “You know you could have left at any time, right?”

Hope gave him an incredulous look. “What? No I can’t. I’ve been captured, remember? You captured me.” 

Lizzie let out a long-suffering sigh and rolled her eyes at Hope. “Do we look like a cracker jack team of hostage takers to you? I mean, losing you wouldn’t be ideal but I suppose we’d still have the sword so it’d still be a pretty good day for me overall.”

Hope pondered on this. They hadn’t put the bonds back on her since they’d run into that gargoyle and they hadn’t seemed to eager to do so during their little trek through that haunted damn forest. She had to admit at a certain point that her life had gone distinctly off the rails since leaving the Horde. Yeah, she could leave but to what end? Something was going with her, something having to do with that magic sword and some destiny, and she couldn't just turn back now. She needed to figure out what was going on here. 

“Well still, I hate this.” 

“Oh, don’t be such a baby. Does everyone in the Horde complain this much?” Lizzie groaned out and pushed Hope along the path into the village. Josie told Hope once that not every question needs to be answered and she assumed this was one of those times with the blonde. 

Although Josie did complain a lot. And so did Kyle. Okay, maybe Horde soldiers do have a habit of complaining. 

It didn’t take them more than a minute to get into the bustle of the villagers that were quickly moving throughout with a delighted chatter moving amongst them. 

“What is all this?” Hope asked with a confused brow. 

“It’s a festival. The village throws it this time every year. I can’t really remember what for, though. General merriment, I think.” MG responds, a thoughtful hand on his chin. 

“Yeah, you know, like a party.” Lizzie interjected. 

This was met with a blank look from Hope and a horrified expression crossed the archer’s face. “Oh god. Lizzie, she doesn’t know what a party is.”

Lizzie looked at Hope like she had grown a few extra heads on her neck. “No, that’s impossible. Evil Horde shit aside, you’re like what, seventeen? You have to at least had a birthday party before, right?”

“O-oh yeah. I definitely know what a party is. We have them all the time, of course.” Hope laughed nervously as she scratched the back of her neck. Her voice dropped off and resigned sigh left her. “Yeah, no, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Well, this is just unacceptable. I can’t let this stand.” Lizzie declared and extended her hand up into the air. “You might be an evil enemy soldier but I will not allow you to continue not knowing what a party is. No. Definitely not. MG, get her a snack and a drink.”

MG rushed off without another word, something Hope would have to look into later or possibly exploit for her own means, and that left her alone with the witch. They weren’t trying to kill each other anymore, which Hope considered more a positive than negative, but an awkward tension hung in the air between them.

That was, until she saw it. 

She had never seen anything like it before. There were no words to do it justice. She had no idea things like that even existed. 

“What. Is that.”

Lizzie distractedly follows Hope’s eyes and answered as if it was the most normal thing in the world. “Oh that? It’s a horse.”

“It’s amazing,” Hope said just above a whisper, her eyes never leaving the four-legged creature. 

“Let me guess. You’ve never seen a horse before either.” Lizzie looked almost amused at the discovery. “Do you wanna go say hi to it?” 

“What?” Hope spat out, looking terribly alarmed, almost as if she was seeing royalty. “I couldn't possibly. I’m sure he’s very busy.” 

“He’s a horse, Hope. He doesn’t do anything other than eat grass or whatever horses do.” Lizzie explained as if talking to a small child. Before Hope could do anything, hands were being pressed to her back and she was being pushed closer to the horse, despite the protests of the auburn haired girl. 

“Don’t be a baby. Just pet the horse.” Lizzie rolled her eyes. 

Hope swallowed and reached her hand out to touch the creature when a boom off to the distance alarmed all three of them and the horse went running off around the stables to hide.   


“You! What have you done!” Lizzie accused her, sticking a finger to Hope’s chest and poking her aggressively.   
  
“Me? I’ve been with you all this entire time! How could I have done anything? What’s going on?” Hope asked confused. 

“What do you think’s going on? The Horde is here!” 

“But that doesn’t make any sense! The Horde wouldn't attack a place like this!” Hope yelled at the blonde and then she stepped back, her brow furrowed in heavy thought. Her mind went back to conversations she’d heard among the soldiers, with Clarke. They were going to attack soon. But that can’t be.   
“Wait, what is this place called?” Hope asks. 

“Thaymor. This village is Thaymor.”

Hope’s stomach plummeted and sweat pooled at her forehead and she shook her head violently. “No, that can’t be. Thaymor is supposed to be a witch stronghold. Not....not this.” 

Lizzie laughed humorously as a tank pulled up the village in their line sight and gripped Hope’s chin tight in her hand. “Do you think that matters right now? Your people are attacking innocent civilians! What are you gonna do about it?”

Hope let out a shaky breath as MG rushed over to them and pulled out his quiver. “Okay, just let me talk to them. I can fix this. No one has to get hurt. Just give me a chance here.”

Lizzie paused for an incredibly long moment as she looked to be thinking over it very carefully and finally nodded her head at Hope. “Okay. You’ve got one minute. Dazzle me.” 

Hope sucked in a deep breath and made her way to the tank that was rolling up and threatening to enter the gates. She waved her hands wildly as she stepped in front of it and hoped that someone would recognize her. “Stop! Stop firing!” 

The tank in front of her came to a stop and a hatch on top of it pushed open and a flash of brunette hair popped out.   


“Hope?”


End file.
